


little talks

by ohmygodwhy



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, can be read as brotp, i just want him happy, im being pulled back into pjo i dont wanna, whoops it happened again
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-11
Updated: 2015-04-11
Packaged: 2018-03-22 10:24:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3725278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohmygodwhy/pseuds/ohmygodwhy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"And so Nico talks. And Jason takes it all in stride."</p>
            </blockquote>





	little talks

**Author's Note:**

> protect nico 2k15

 

 

 

Piper is the first one he sees when he’s rescued. Granted, he’s never seen her before, never met her, but she’s standing over him to shield him from the fighting he can hear rather than see (his vision is blurry and he’s barely conscious and he thinks he should be helping) unfolding before him.

She puts him on edge, he realizes later. Whether it’s because she’s the daughter of love or not he isn’t sure, but the way she side-eyes him with thinly veiled suspicion through a curtain of choppy brown hair makes his skin crawl (he knows there’s no way she can know, but that doesn’t stop him from keeping his guard up- keeping his guard forever up because he doesn’t know what will crawl out of the shadows next).

 

 

 

Hazel is the first one who cries when he’s rescued. The only one who cries (and really why would anyone cry, he’s a stranger to them and they came on her demand, he’s nothing but a sack of bones and jitters at this point and they still see him as a possible threat).

She’s the only one who _doesn’_ t put him on edge. Her arms around him feel like a warm blanket of protection and he has to try very hard from clinging to her when she lets go- he does cling to her later though, when Percy falls and falls and falls into the darkness below and disappears from sight, and they’re both yelling for help and she pulls him close and he’s holding back tears because he’s failed. He clings to her later, once again, when he wakes with a choked back scream and fire burning in his vision and poison in his throat, he clings to her pathetically, like a child, cursing himself for waking her up even when she says she was off to get some water anyways, says that it’s not his fault and it’s ok and he’s safe, and even though it’s ridiculously untrue, he closes his eyes and falls against her shoulder and doesn’t manage to fall back asleep.

 

 

 

Jason is the first one who stares at him when he’s rescued. He doesn’t make a show of it, doesn’t seem to be doing it intentionally, but Nico can feel his gaze boring into his skin and it makes him want to curl up and hide. He stares at him like he might be an enemy, stares at him like he isn’t sure they should’ve saved him, stares at him like he’s taken something important, and he supposes he has when they’re all standing on the deck with an emptiness in their hearts because two of their own are gone and Nico has unrightfully taken their place.

He stares at him in Croatia, stares at him like he never knew him until now (he’s seen, he’s seen, he’s _seen_ , he’s seen his worst memories and he knows knows _knows_ ).

He has the audacity to tell him to come out of hiding, has the nerve to say that it’s _“alright_ ” and he “ _accepts him_ ” when a few days ago he was eyeing him like garbage.

He acts like he wants to be his friend, acts like just because Nico was forced into admitting a secret he has some deeper understanding of him, acts like Nico is worth his time when Nico knows he isn’t.

 

 

 

Percy is the first one to accuse him when he’s rescued.

“You knew about both camps,” he says, and he looks like he wants to be angry, looks like he wants to say more.

And Nico kind of wants to be angry too, because really, what was he supposed to do? What else could he have done? He’s sorry, he’s oh so sorry, sorry he didn’t help more and sorry he ever tried to help at all and sorry he’s standing before seven teenagers who look at him like he’s a defective time bomb that doesn’t have enough power to explode. But he’s thankful too, thankful he can see Percy again, and Hazel again, and thankful he’s not suffocating in jar any longer and thankful he’s alive at least long enough to watch the world end.

 And he’s _sorry,_ all sorts of sorry and guilty and useless when his arm isn’t long enough to reach him and he’s too weak to do anything else. All he can do is promise- _promise_ \- promise to lead them to the other side and hope with everything he has left inside him that they’ll make it too.

 

 

 

Annabeth is the fist one he’s surprised not to see when he’s rescued. On a quest of her own, he finds out a few minutes later. On a quest of her own somewhere nearby and Percy is fidgety and anxious and it makes him wonder why they’re here and not off rescuing her first. Because they were nearer, he reasons, because that’s just how things played out. 

But things play out horribly and she tumbles down and down and down to the place he never wants to think about again, but she has Percy and Percy has her and he knows they’ll be able to hold themselves together.

 

 

 

Frank is the first one to ask him when he’s rescued, ask _about_ him. Not about his journey or his power or his loyalties, just about him.

“Nico, your mom was Italian? She was from Venice?”

Nico almost wants to dismiss the question, because they’re trying to do something important and his personal history isn’t very important and he isn’t sure why the other would care in the first place. But Hazel is looking at him hopefully and so he humors the game for the minute.

And Frank is kind, to his sister and to his friends and that’s almost ironic considering who his godly parent is. Frank is kind and Frank is strong and he supposes he can play the part of the overprotective big brother a little while longer, if not just to insure that he’s willing to stay with her.

 

 

 

Leo is the first one to laugh at him when he’s rescued. Not at him, but at his attitude. Not his attitude, but the situation in general. Not the situation, but the world, because laughing is what he seems to be best at and it’s all he can seem to do to hold himself together. He’s annoying, and his sense of humor is childish at best. He never seems to stop moving and he twitches and shakes a lot and he looks very sad when he thinks no one else is watching (and to him, Nico might as well be no one because he’s nearly invisible at this point and he doubts Leo takes him for anything more than a conveniently powerful ghost).

He doesn’t spare him much thought. But he still feels a little guilty taking a piece of fruit or two in the middle of the night when he’s restless on the mast, because Leo is the one who built this ship, and Nico is the one who is a stranger.

 

 

 

Jason is the first one who offers to trust him when he’s rescued. He knows Hazel trusts him, it’s one of the only comforts he has at this point and he loves her for it. But Jason is the first one who offers to.

All Nico has to offer him is poison, and he takes it.

 

 

 

Reyna is the first one he comforts when he’s rescued. It’s not the best comfort anyone could offer, it’s awkward and hesitant and doesn’t come out exactly as he’d hoped (he’s never really shared anything with the intent of helping before) but it does seem to work, if only a little bit.

She tells him about her, and he tells her about him. She experiences his darkest fears, his worst emotions, his most pathetic secrets, and somehow, she still stands by him.

She hugs him in front of the crowd, and he wonders if this is what it finally feels like to have a true friend.

 

 

 

Will is the first one to scold him when he’s rescued. He scolds him like a mother would a child, tells him that he was the one isolating himself and that no one there ever tried to push him away and Nico wants to laugh or yell but he’s literally fading fast and there is screaming all around them.

Later, after they’ve won, Will scolds him some more and tells him to help out in the infirmary.

 

 

 

Jason is the first one who visits him after the war. Hazel is the first one to cry again when she finds out he’s safe and he could nearly cry too, Leo is the first one to leave behind an emptiness in his chest when he finds out he got caught up in the explosion, Annabeth is the first one to high-five him with a knowing smile on her face, but Jason is the first one to visit.

They sit on the steps of the Hades cabin and Jason looks as bad as Nico feels- his hair a messy tangle of blond sticking up on one side and a thin darkness under his eyes that looks remarkably out of place (though he supposes he probably looks worse- messy hair and eye bags are kinda his thing). And they talk about Leo and they talk about the war and they talk about plans and Jason asks if he can hug him (a surprising request- even more surprising is the fact that he cares enough about his off-handed remark about his distaste of being touched enough to ask permission). Nico grudgingly says yes.

(He regrets it a moment later when he’s being suffocated and can feel the sides of Jason’s glasses pressing against his neck and this is not the way he thought he would die).

He talks excitedly about sitting together at meals and playing capture the flag and Nico has to wonder how in Hades this guy’s almost an adult.

 

 

 

Jason is the first one who saves his life after the war. Border patrol is tedious task for someone who’s helped save the world twice and has the attention span of a child, so it’s not really his fault that he isn’t paying very close attention after four or so hours of no excitement.

 He spins around a second too late and pain shoots up his body when claws rake up the side of his stomach (he feels the sting of poison in their wake and vaguely wonders as he swings his sword blindly if it’ll be a drawn out death or not). Then there’s yelling and a flash of gold and orange and he stays conscious long enough to see the damn monster explode into dust.

(It is a drawn out death, he discovers. Or at least it feels like one. Vemon pumps through his veins and he’s in the pit again, he’s alone in the jar again, he’s suffocating, suffocating, taunts and whispers and he’s never getting out, never getting out never getting-)

 

 

 

Jason is the first one who holds him after the war.

He wakes up thrashing and delirious in the infirmary and he can’t breathe can’t breathe can’t breathe- his body aches and the light burns his eyes and he can’t _breathe._ There’s a hand on his arm, a hand trailing down to his own- he’s not sure who’s it is but it’s warm and he’s freezing and he grips it like a lifeline until he can finally breathe again.

 “Hallucinogenic poison,” he’s told later (eyes downcast in shame because he had apparently been crying out and shaking like a weakling), “Not fatal but extremely potent,”

Will’s voice is laced with careful pity and Nico doesn’t want to look up. He can feel his gaze and he can feel Jason’s gaze (it had been Jason’s hand, he found out) and all he can work up the pride to get out is a nod and a small

“Oh," 

 

 

 

Jason is the first one he confides in after the war. The son of the sky seems to be _very_ interested in his feelings and fears all of the sudden, and takes it upon himself to be some sort of self-proclaimed therapist.

“It’s what friends do,” he says.

He insists.

And continues to insist when Nico refuses.

And so Nico talks. He talks and talks about his sister Bianca and his early days on the streets, days spent sleeping in the backs of libraries or thrift stores and fighting off monsters as best he could, days spent in the underworld talking to ghosts and running errands for his father, ignoring the constant ‘Bianca could have done better’ s. He talks about Percy Jackson and Percy’s eyes and how he used to admire him, he talks about his mother and Italy and the little boy next door he used to play with, he talks about Mythomagic and he talks about Hazel, and he talks about everything around him withering and dying like he supposes is only natural- he is a son of Hades after all.

And Jason takes it all in stride.

Nico talks about Tartarus. He talks about the monsters and the shadows and the feeling of the ground pulsing beneath him, he talks about the caves and the loneliness and the way reality and time twist and turn into nothingness. He talks about the thoughts of dying down there, he talks about having stale air stolen away bit by bit, he talks about the sides of the jar and how difficult it is to scratch a mark into one when you’re weak from hunger. He talks about being afraid to fall asleep, fearing that he’ll wake up again in the depths of hell, fearing that he never really left, and he doesn’t really notice when he starts crying (pathetic, weak, disgusting tears and he’s just bared his soul without really meaning to and he supposes that’s part of the charm of a son of Jupiter). 

And Jason is the first one who holds him after the war.

 

 


End file.
